Pride & Potential

"For pride," I answered her as her fingers traced lightly over the scar bisecting my abdomen. "A man wanted something of mine that I was unwilling to part with."

From her knees, she turned her gaze upward to meet my eyes. Her idle hand grasped me intimately, stroking lightly. "A girl?" she asked.

"In fact, yes," I answered, combing my fingers through her hair. I stared at her bare ass over her shoulders, the way it settled on her heels, in an objectifying manner as we spoke. Mina's backside was not without interest. It was, truthfully, very interesting to me.

"You must have cared deeply for her, Master," she said. She took a breath, trying to calm her nerves. She then closed her eyes and tentatively kissed my aroused flesh.

"She was only a girl," I answered. "Petty, manipulative. A slut. Perhaps if the fellow asked for her politely, I would have given him a good price."

"You would have sold..." she started, her tone incredulous. Her sentence was cut short as I pulled her forward by the back of the head, her forehead pressed firm to my abdomen. She moaned, forgetting her question. I admit it made my knees buckle. It had been months since the last time I used a woman.

___

Several ahns later, I was at the basin of my rented room washing my face. Mina was curled up beside my couch, shackled and chained at her left ankle. Nude, with the tunic I wore the day prior draped over her hip, her arms were crossed before her, and her knees were drawn together modestly.

"You used me," she said, her breath shallow. It was very nearly an accusation.

"That is true," I answered, turning to face her as I patted my face dry with a towel.

"You did not ask my permission," she said. "You simply put me to your pleasure."

"That, too, pretty Mina, is true," I said.

"I suppose you will tell me that is what a woman is good for," she said ruefully.

"Actually," I said, "you were not very good at all."

"Master?" she asked, not sure she understood. Was her use not a prize, a treasure that I helped myself to?

"You possess certain potentialities," I granted. "All women, by their nature, have potential."

"Potential for what, precisely, Master?" she asked.

I took my tunic from her hip and slipped it on. I unchained her from the floor.

"Clean my room, Mina," I said, and then left for the day.